Smosh
Smosh is a web-based comedy duo consisting of Anthony Padilla (born September 16, 1987) and Ian Hecox (born November 30, 1987). Padilla first began posting flash movies on Newgrounds in early 2003, under the name Smosh. He was later joined by his friend Ian Hecox. Soon afterward they began to post videos on YouTube in the autumn of 2005 and became one of the most popular channels on that site, with more than 5 million subscribers as of July 2012. Six Smosh-related channels exist on YouTube, though only four are very active. The base "Smosh" channel, where both Hecox and Padilla post their skits and other videos, has new videos every Friday. From "IanH" (used at first for vlogs and other non-scripted videos), the pair upload their side series "Ian is Bored" on Mondays and "Lunchtime with Smosh" on Thursdays, while their associate performer Mari does "Smosh Pit Weekly" videos on Saturday. On "ElSmosh", the duo uploads old episodes on Wednesdays and new episodes on Sundays that have been dubbed over in Spanish. "Shut Up! Cartoons" airs a number of animated series, created by different animators, it uploads videos on various weekdays. "AskCharlie", active from May 2010 to December 2011, hosts videos from the Ask Charlie series, where an anthropomorphic guinea pig, named Charlie the Drunk Guinea Pig, answers viewer submitted questions. "AnthonyPadilla", hosts vlog-like videos uploaded by Padilla, which are uploaded only rarely. History Formation and Pokémon Theme Music Video: 2002–2005 Smosh began when Anthony Padilla built a website in 2002, named smosh.com, and made several different Flash animations. Later, his friend, Ian Hecox, joined Smosh. Anthony and Ian first met in their sixth grade science class. They became friends, and quickly discovered their knack for comedy. In 2005, they joined YouTube and made several videos together, lip syncing to theme songs such as Mortal Kombat, Power Rangers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. At first, these videos were not intended to be posted online, but after they sent them to their friends, they started a YouTube channel. One of Smosh's earliest videos, "Pokémon Theme Music Video," was released in November 2005. It followed the same style as their other earlier videos, featuring the duo lip-synching the original English theme song for the Pokémon anime. However, the video instantly became much more popular than any of their other videos; over the course of its lifetime, it gained 24.7 million views, becoming the most-viewed video on all of YouTube at that time.[7][8] It held that title for about six months, but was removed by YouTube after the website received a notice from Shogakukan Productions Co., Ltd., claiming copyright infringement.[citation needed] The success of their Pokémon video and other videos led Smosh to be featured in the "Person of the Year: You" issue of Time Magazine, published December 13, 2006 and on Time.com. It also inspired them to expand their style beyond basic lip-synching videos, and eventually to start creating videos of various genres, such as mini-skits and sketch comedies.[citation needed]. In March 2007, a user named Andii2000 re-uploaded the original Pokémon video, it has over 14.1 million views as of July 2012. Due to the channel's continued success, and Smosh's partnership with YouTube, the two recreated the video in November 2010, this time changing the words to be critical of The Pokemon Company taking down the Pokémon theme video. YouTube success: 2006–present Over the course of the next few years, Smosh began to diversify. They started making short YouTube skits, like Food Battle and That Damn Neighbor. Smosh continued to grow in popularity and became one the most subscribed channels on YouTube. In 2009, Smosh prepared a massive redesign of Smosh.com, added a games section, and put extras in the video section. In January 2010, Smosh launched the "Smosh Pit" feature, a blog that consists of various pieces of pop-culture trivia, and written comedy. In addition, 2010 saw the channel launch 3 different Smosh-based web series: Ian is Bored, which started as a collection of comedic videos by Hecox, but then turned primarily into Smosh opening fan mail segments called Mail Time with Smosh; Ask Charlie (which is an interactive series where people ask Charlie, from their January 2010 Charlie the Drunk Guinea Pig video, random questions) ran from May 2010 to December 2011; and Lunchtime with Smosh, a comedy series featuring Smosh getting and eating food from various places. Some of Smosh's most popular video series include Pokemon in Real Life and If ____ Was Real. Also in early 2010, Smosh created the "iShut Up App" for Android phones as part of a Google sponsorship; it eventually made its way to the iTunes app store. In 2012 the duo started two new YouTube channels, El Smosh, with Smosh videos dubbed in Spanish, and Shut Up! Cartoons, with various animated videos. The first three cartoons launched included Do's and Don'ts and Zombies vs. Ninjas which met critical success among YouTubers. However, Pubertina met backlash.[citation needed] In May 2012, Smosh later launched Krogzilla, a show created by Cory Edwards who also created Hoodwinked and starring John O'Hurley.[19] In 2012, Smosh was featured as guests on Ask A Naked Guy. Hecox and Padilla have also provided guest voices on the machinima series Red vs. Blue, playing two Insurrectionists that serve for comic relief during fight scenes.